Town Fire Forces Evacuation of Bluegrass Festival !

You've heard it said: "If it isn't one thing, it's another."   Well in this case it was several things.   We heard from Kim Robins this morning of some strange  and almost unbelievable happenings at the Sheridan Bluegrass Fever Festival in Indiana.   Kim's Report follows:

Strawberry Festival in the Hot Spot - Fire Danger Forces Changes!

One of Labor Day Weekend’s annual Hot Spots for Bluegrass fans on the west coast is the Strawberry Music Festival at Camp Mather just on the edge of Yosemite National Park.

Hot Spot has a new meaning for the festival this year.  The Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors and Community Resource Agency has pulled the permit due to California’s RIM FIRE which reached the National Park yesterday.

Bluegrass Family Evacuated Once Again in Colorado!

Erin Youngberg (Finnders and Youngberg) is reflecting upon the scare of last summer’s fires in Colorado.  It’s more than a reflection, it’s reality again for the 3rd time in 9 months.

Erin along with her husband Aaron (also in the band) and family were once again evacuated Friday (3/15/13) night and she posted this frightening photo for us to get a small glimpse of the nightmare they’re living.  This is the view from their own neighborhood.

Evacuation orders were lifted on Saturday for hundreds of Colorado residents forced to flee their homes due to a wind-driven wildfire in a canyon northwest of Denver,

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Video courtesy: NBC NEWS

as firefighters made progress in containing the blaze, officials said.

NBC News’ Lester Holt has more details on the situation from his Saturday news broadcast.

Yonder “Kinfolk” Celebration Helps Colorado Fire Relief Fund

Believe it or not, we just got word that tickets are still available for this weekend’s Yonder Mountain “Kinfolk” Celebration at Planet Bluegrass in Lyons, Colorado. 

As apart of the special celebration with Yonder Mountain String Band and special musical guests, the band will  also be extending a hand to their fellow Coloradoans in-need by hosting a silent auction to benefit the Colorado Fire Relief Fund. Kinfolk will have the opportunity to bid on archived posters and signed merchandise, tickets to upcoming events, and instruments & gear (!) from the band's vault. 

"This is where our band was born. There's always been something special about the way people here interact with music."
– Ben Kaufmann (Yonder Mountain String Band)

Fire Burns Up Motorhome at Blythe, CA Festival

U P D A T E :

Alvin Blaine, the sound engineer for Old Blue Sound who posted this picture added this :

“last I heard the audience had raised over $3500 for the folks that lost their RV.”

 

Old Blue Sound engineer Alvin Blaine who was on duty during this past weekends festival in Blythe, CA posted this photo and blurb on his Facebook page.

“This weekends Bluegrass festival had a rough closing day for one family. Their RV went up in flames just a couple of hundred feet from the stage. They lost one of their cats to the fire, but no one else was hurt. A couple of guys ran up and pulled off the propane tanks before the flames got to them.   I don't think anyone knows how it started, the owners said there was nothing on or plugged in. As soon as every one else got their rigs away from it, and about when the amo (sic) started going off, I moved my truck away from it.  So glad something like that didn't happen on Saturday when we had the 30+mph wind.”

The Blythe Bluegrass Festival sponsored by the Blythe Chamber of Commerce was also plagued on Saturday with excessive winds that tore the canopy from it’s mountings on one of the stages on Saturday during the John Reischman and The Jaybirds’ morning set.

A spokesperson for the Blythe Chamber of Commerce declined comment but did confirm that no injuries were reported in either case.

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